Red Snow
by riawolf
Summary: What happens when you don't know who you are or why you are where you are? What happened to you in the past? A new wolf appears and she has some issues. These 'little' issues cause more than just some 'minor' problems for Kiba's clan...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain.**

Part One:

_When I was a tiny pup, I had to learn everything myself, no one was there to teach me. I don't even remember what my parents looked like. Are wolves even supposed to remember what their parents looked like? When I was very young, everything was learned on a trial and error basis. Such as: how to catch food, what food I could eat, and etcetera. Ever since I was a very young pup I've been on my own. No family to speak of. I don't think I've ever wanted a family. I don't even know what a family is. I prefer to be alone…_

**_!snap!_**

At this unexpected sound, my eyes snapped open and my ears stood up. I raised my head simultaneously and sniffed the air. The scent was strange to me. I had never smelt anything like it before. I hesitated before choosing to leave the sanctuary of my small winter cave in order to investigate.

**_!snap! _**

Another of the same snapping sound followed by a few less noticeable ones came to my attention as I wove through the bleak winter-y forest. Snowflakes fell gently onto my coat, but I ignored them; I had more important things to worry about right now…

Soon, I could hear voices mixed in with the snapping sounds:

"Hige! Quit breaking all the twigs! Someone might hear us!" a female voice said.

Then a second, much younger, male voice: "There's nobody here. I don't see why it's such a big deal."

A third, a little deeper than the other male voice, "It should be a big deal because the last time we checked we were getting closer to the fleet that took Cheza."

I placed my paws stealthily forward and downwind of the voices. I had more skill in this familiar woodland than these intruders, and I used it to my advantage. I peered through the boughs of a high bush that was laden with snow. I saw a group of five wolves, each a different color: white, gray, black, brown, and rust-colored. _Where were they going? Why were they in my forest? Why were they so worried that someone might hear them? Most importantly, who was Cheza?_

But I knew better than to let my curiosity get the better of me. It comes from my experiences as a young one. I did not trust these travelers. Whom-ever they were, they were still intruding into my homeland. I decided to follow them to see if they were just passing through. I slipped through the dark brush in the night. When I was younger, this took some time to learn considering my fur is almost as bright as a red fox's.

I followed this multicolored group for some time when I heard the gray one say, "Does anyone else feel like we're being watched?"

When the gray one said this, everyone in the group stopped moving for a few seconds. The gray and white wolves peered into the dark recesses of the forest. Both of their eyes passed over where I crouched, motionless for the time being. The white one's blue eyes passed over quickly, but I felt the gray one's yellow eyes lingering over the spot where I watched them. It was slightly unsettling, but only slightly, and only for a few seconds… a few seconds that felt like an eternity. An eternity in which I thought I was discovered. But the yellow eyes moved on, apparently unconvinced, that I was there.

"So what do you think, Kiba? Is anyone there?" the smaller rust-colored wolf asked the white wolf, whom I now perceived was the leader.

The white wolf responded after a moment of looking warily at the surrounding trees, "I'm not sure. Let's keep moving. I'm not sure we should stay here any longer."

During this brief moment, the gray wolf said nothing. I was apprehensive as to whether or not he would reveal what he believed to be my location. The group then proceeded on their allotted journey, the gray wolf pausing before following behind them.

I waited for a minute before taking this as my cue to leave, if only for a few moments. Or at least until they lost that feeling of being watched. I did not wish to be discovered.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello everyone! I'm here, posting my first Wolf's Rain fic! Review and let me know how you think I'm doing and if you think I should continue. And blah, blah, blah… but anyway, I had to get the stories that are floating around in my head onto paper, or web-space, or whatever, before I forget one idea or another. I hope you all understand that's why I haven't been updating any of my current longer running stories such as: A Robin's Story or Kazel the Dragon Demon, and etcetera. I apologize for that. I will get right to them as soon as I find the time amid all the other fun stuff going on here at college. Write to you later! Or in this case 'howl' to you later! --riawolf**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain!**

**Chapter Two:**

Tsume had no idea why he didn't tell anyone about where he thought someone was watching from. It was just one of those things he was unsure about, and there weren't many of those. In a way, Kiba was right. Maybe they shouldn't stick around. He didn't know if whom-ever was watching them would attack or not. Besides, they needed to catch up with Jagara's troops in order to rescue Cheza.

As they continued through the forest, the occasional bird chirped. Kiba knew that comforting sound wouldn't be around much longer because night was settling in. He knew instinctively that they would have to find some place to stop and rest for the night, preferably outside of this dense forest. Kiba felt that since Tsume mentioned the feeling of being watched, they might just need to make a quick escape. He had no idea whether the thing watching them was friendly or hostile. But just to make sure they weren't being followed anymore, he occasionally glanced at the surrounding trees while walking. Kiba didn't know this, but Tsume was doing the exact same thing in the rear. Soon, Blue caught on to Kiba and Tsume's wariness as well. Toboe and Hige quit playing in the snow as they were walking and followed suit.

Blue approached Kiba from the left and whispered cautiously, "Kiba, we really should try to find some place to crash for the night. I think Toboe's getting tired, as well as Hige, even though they won't admit it."

"Why are you whispering?" Kiba asked.

Blue didn't know how to respond to this. She remained silent for a minute before continuing, "You're looking at the trees as if they had ears and were eavesdropping on us."

"I just can't shake the feeling of being followed, now that Tsume mentioned it."

"Can we rest?" Toboe's voice piped up from behind, "I'm getting kind of tired."

"Soon, Toboe. We'll rest soon." Kiba responded, but he didn't bother to turn around and look at Toboe.

"I never thought I'd say this but, Kiba's right, Toboe," Tsume said as he caught up to the smaller chestnut wolf, "It might be better if we sleep outside of this forest. Especially if we're being followed."

At this, Toboe promptly sat right where he was, which startled Tsume, "I can't go any farther! And even if I could, I wouldn't want to!" he whined.

To Kiba's annoyance, Hige joined sides with Toboe, "I'm tired and hungry! Can't we please stop!"

Kiba, Blue, and Tsume turned to face the complaining two-some. Blue spoke up, "They're right, Kiba. We really do need to eat and sleep."

Kiba sighed and said, "I suppose we can stop and get something to eat… But that doesn't mean we're going to sleep in this place," He glanced warily at the trees, "We're just getting something to eat and that's it." Tsume growled lightly at this decision before moving a little away from the others.

**LATER…**

After dinner, Toboe and Hige were successful in getting Kiba to concede to finding a place in the forest to crash for the night. In Tsume's opinion, Kiba was getting soft. As of right now, Tsume was on his own doing just that. No, not being soft, that wasn't in his nature. He was looking for suitable place big enough for five wolves to spend the night. Kiba was also doing this as well in some other area of the forest. They had left Blue in charge of looking after Hige and Toboe while they were gone.

Kiba had decided to go west. Tsume, on the other hand, had gone east. Kiba didn't like the idea of spending the night in this forest. Kiba had noticed that Tsume hadn't been very happy with the decision to spend the night here either. This was strange, considering the fact that they hardly ever agreed on anything.

Right now, he was searching for suitable place for the clan to spend the night. So far, Kiba had only passed through a few clearings. Other than that, there was nothing special in this forest except for trees, trees, and more trees. Oh yeah, and snow, and lots of it. Suddenly, Kiba encountered a cave. He sniffed the air in the area to check for any other animals living near or in the cave. He approached the opening cautiously. On the way there, Kiba didn't notice any other footprints in the surrounding area.

_'Perhaps this place is safe… so far…' _he thought. Kiba peered around the side of the cave and saw nothing but darkness. _'I can't see anything from out here. I guess I'll have to invite myself in…'_ he cautiously placed one paw into the cave, _'If any sort of predator lived in here, I would have been attacked already.'_ Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Kiba was relieved to find no animal inside. To most of his knowledge, no animal had lived in here for a while. None of the scents he picked up inside were very fresh. In fact, most of them appeared to be just about diminished in the cold temperatures of the forest. _'Probably more than five wolves could fit inside this cave.'_ He thought, _'I better go call the others.'_ With this decision made, Kiba exited the cave.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I was returning to my cave after catching my evening meal, a white rabbit. I had decided that the intruders were not bothersome enough to watch. I did not think that they would be a threat to me at least if I just stayed away from them.

I picked up the rabbit carcass in my mouth and started off to the west, towards my cave. I had just reached the first line of trees around the clearing, when a slight breeze carried a scent to my nose. It wasn't just the smell of death from my recently kill, it was…

I couldn't quite make out what it was but I started forward cautiously, quietly, and quickly towards my cave. As I moved the rabbit's blood dripped down onto the pure white snow from the wound I had made on its back in order to carry it.

As I neared the vicinity of the cave, the strange scent became heavier in the air. It also became a little more familiar… though I had no idea why… I rounded the first turn. The dead rabbit dropped from my mouth in surprise. The gray wolf I had seen earlier was right in front of me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain!**

**THREE**

I turned and left my kill behind. What was most important was getting away from the gray wolf behind me. I didn't know what to do. I had never met another wolf before, and I didn't want to. I liked being alone… sometimes…

I wove in and out of the trees I had passed just moments before, not really paying attention to where I was going. I needed to shake the gray wolf off of my trail. Each passing second, I kept thinking, _'He's right behind me! I've got lose him!'_

Up ahead, I could see the end of the tree line where the clearing began. _'If I make it there before he does, then maybe I can circle back around to my cave…'_

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

As Tsume rounded the corner, he never expected to run into another wolf. And one he didn't know, at that. The red wolf dropped whatever was in its mouth, a recent kill: it's blood seeped into the white snow. The new wolf ran in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Wait!" Tsume shouted and took off after it. And man, was this wolf fast! Tsume had a hard time keeping up with him because he had to keep swerving in and out of the trees. By the time Tsume got past about twenty trees, the red wolf was about to cross what appeared to be the end of the forest line. _'Who is this guy?'_ he thought to himself.

"Wait! I just want to—

But the red wolf had already exited the forest. A few seconds later, Tsume heard a loud

**!CRACK!**

This was followed closely by the agonized yelp of an injured wolf.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**!CRACK!**

The sound echoed throughout the silent night of the forest. Kiba's ears perked up as he came to attention, and so did Blue's, Hige's, and Toboe's ears. What was even more frightening to Toboe was the yelp of pain that was mixed in with the terrible sound of a gunshot.

"Tsume!"

"We've got to save him!"

"He's in trouble!"

All four of the remaining wolves jumped up from where they were and tore off towards the source of the sound. While running, Hige could hear Toboe saying, "Please don't be dead… Please don't be dead… Please don't be…"

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Another bullet whizzed past him as he attacked yet another of Jagara's men. _'That stupid red wolf! How could he not have sensed the presence of these men?'_ Tsume brought the man down to the ground with his fangs lodged in the throat. But before he could finish the man off, Tsume heard the sound of yet another gun being cocked. He leapt off the prone body of the man he had just killed, and twisted to his left before a bullet could hit him in the back. Tsume could feel the fast moving object as it brushed slightly against his fur, _'Dang! That was close!'_ he thought.

Just then, Tsume heard an agonized scream from one of the men. He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see the red wolf attacking one of the other men.

"Quick! Sho---!" The leader of the soldiers shouted, but the command came to late and was cut short. Tsume already had his teeth in the back of his neck. Soon, there were no more men left to kill. The leader was the last one of them.

Tsume turned to face the red wolf, but it had disappeared. All he saw was a trail of blood leading from where the red wolf had fallen. _'He can't have gone very far.' _Tsume then looked around the clearing. He spotted the red wolf trying to run into the trees.

"Hey, you! Wait!" He shouted at the retreating figure. The wolf glanced hastily over its shoulder at Tsume, but it continued to trudge towards the trees. By the time Tsume caught up to the rogue, the red wolf had collapsed to the ground. When Tsume was a little closer, it was no longer a wolf. And it was no longer hard to tell its gender.

There was a yellow-haired girl wearing a long, sleeve-less, black coat. She was sitting on the snow-covered ground, holding onto her shoulder. This was apparently were she had been shot. Tsume could tell because some blood ran down her arm.

"You're hurt." He said from where he stood a few feet away.

The girl glared up at Tsume, "I'm fine--- Stay away from me!"

"You don't look fine to me." he replied to her demand.

The girl continued to hold onto her bleeding shoulder and made sure she didn't look at her interrogator, "I can take care of myself."

Tsume rolled his eyes at this, "Right. That's why you're hurt." He doubted that she could take care of herself, "Besides, you got yourself into this by following us. Didn't you?" When the girl didn't answer, Tsume asked again, "You were following us, weren't you?" He asked her this in all seriousness, but she still didn't answer his question. Tsume decided to change the subject, "Let me take a look at your shoulder." He walked towards her a few steps, knelt down beside her, and reached out to take the girl's now blood covered hand from her wound.

The second his hand lifted hers, however, the girl slapped his hands away and began to yell at him, "Don't touch me! I'm fine!"

_'That tears it!'_ Tsume thought.

"Just let me look at it! I'm trying to help you!" He yelled as he grabbed the hand that had just slapped him and flipped the girl over onto her stomach. He pinned her in place and twisted her uninjured arm behind her back.

The girl winced in pain at the roughness of it, "Get off of me!" she shouted.

Tsume ignored her plea. He could see that the bullet had hit her just at the back of her shoulder. Now that he had an unobstructed view of the wound, Tsume made his assessment aloud, "It's bad. You've lost a lot of blood already. You wouldn't last a day out there on your own."

"You don't know me, then."

"What do you mean?"

"This is my territory. I know more about it than you or your friends. I've lived here my whole life, and I'll die here if I have to."

Tsume was slightly surprised to hear this come from her. _'Then again, maybe she's just putting up a façade—a tough girl routine. Well, I've seen this before.'_ He thought. Before Tsume could release her from his hold, a familiar howl reached his ears.

"Tsume! You're alive!" Toboe and the others (Kiba, Blue and Hige) bounded out of the forest and stopped nearby at the scene before them: the bodies of the dead soldiers in the clearing and the unknown girl Tsume held captive before them.

Blue stepped forward and said, "Tsume, what's going on? Who is this?"

Tsume nodded his head in the girl's direction, "I was just about to ask her the same question."

"Get off of me!" the girl growled from her position in the snow.

Kiba noticed her bleeding shoulder, "Let her go, Tsume. She's bleeding."

Tsume frowned. He released her and offered his hand to the girl on the snow. She refused his help, again refused to look at him, and immediately paced her uninjured hand back over her wound, "I don't need your help." She said defiantly.

Within the icy glare she directed in his direction, Kiba noticed the intense green shade of the girl's eyes. _'What's with this girl?'_ Kiba thought. Instead, Kiba demanded, "Tsume, what's going on here?"

"I think she's the one who's been following us." Tsume stated simply.

Kiba turned back to the girl, who was still sitting on the snow, "Is that true? Are you the one who's been following us?"

"Yeah! Why have you been watching us?" Hige added.

The girl turned her glare on Hige, "What's it to you what I do with my life?"

"Just answer the question." Kiba demanded to get the girl back on track.

"I wanted to see if you were a threat! Wouldn't you if you spotted intruders in your home? I stopped following you, but I guess I was wrong when I thought you weren't going to threaten me!"

"Threaten you? We were just passing through! We'll be leaving tomorrow." Tsume answered.

"Good! I'll be glad when you're gone!"

Blue turned to Kiba. "We can't leave her here, Kiba. She's hurt."

Kiba's eyes narrowed, he wasn't sure what to say. "She'll stay with us…" He glanced at Tsume, "For now."

Tsume instantly pulled Kiba aside, "What are you doing? How do you know that we can trust her?"

"If she was against us, she would have attacked us already."

"You're making a big mistake, Kiba."

"How do you know, Tsume? What would you do? Leave her to die all alone?"

Tsume didn't know what to say to this. In a way, Kiba was right. _'What would he do if he was in Kiba's place in this situation? -- Kiba's right. I can't just leave her to die here. -- Where did that thought come from!' _

Kiba again approached the mysterious girl with his next question, "Do you have a name? I would like to know to whom I'm speaking."

The girl hesitated before answering, "I don't have a name."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain!**

**Part Four:**

The girl hesitated before answering, "I don't have a name."

Everyone was taken a-back by this statement. Kiba's eyebrow shot up, Tsume's eyes narrowed, Blue and Hige looked shocked, and Toboe voiced everyone's opinion, "Don't have a name? How could you not have a name?"

"I've never needed one."

"But don't you have any family? What do they call you?"

"I never had a family either."

"This doesn't make any sense!' Hige shouted in exasperation.

She replied, "Yes, it does! To me…" the girl lowered her gaze in apparent embarrassment.

After a moment's silence, Kiba asked, "So you live alone here?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"For as long as I can remember."

"Which is…"

"My whole life."

Of all the answers Tsume had expected, this was one of the least expected, so he asked, "What about your parents?"

The girl lifted her face to look at Tsume, "If I had any, wouldn't I have a name?" she said bitterly.

Changing the subject, Kiba asked her, "Do you live around here?"

During this whole conversation, the girl kept hugging her shoulder, attempting to ward off the cold night air, "In a cave near here. To the east." She nodded over her left shoulder, the one that wasn't injured.

"If you want, we can help get you back there so you're not sitting out here, freezing to death." Kiba held out his hand for her to take in order to help her stand, but he forgot that she was wounded. Then, he just took her by the left elbow and tried to lift her to her feet.

The girl started to protest loudly at this, "HEY! Let go of me! I can do it myself! Thank you very much!" Kiba, however, did not release her, but continued to raise her up until she was standing. The girl pulled her elbow free of Kiba's grasp and almost fell back to the snow before Blue, who was closer than Hige or Toboe, caught her.

"Careful!" Blue said as she tried her best to support the girl's injured shoulder because she was on that side.

The girl mumbled something in reply that only Blue could hear, "Thank you…" Blue gave a small smile in return.

"Which way is it to this cave of yours?" Kiba asked.

"I already said: to the east. If I could point right now, I would be pointing to my left."

Without a word, Tsume began walking in the direction the girl had indicated. _'Maybe her cave is big enough to spend the night in,' _he thought.

"Tsume, where are you going?" Kiba demanded of him.

"We might as well get going before it gets too dark to see. Unless you want to get lost…" he replied.

"You won't get lost," the girl hissed to Tsume, as she was led forward by Blue, "I know this forest like the back of my paw. I've lived here my whole life, remember?"

Tsume growled under his breath. He hated her attitude. But then again, she might be a nice, different touch to their clan…

**LATER… **

The cave the girl had described was actually a small opening in the ground. The opening was kind of hard to see at first. Kiba and the others couldn't see it at all. But the girl could obviously tell it was there. She quickened her pace, which separated her from Blue, who had been supporting her.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Blue asked, surprised.

"To my cave." The girl responded without turning around.

"Where is it? I don't see it." Tsume said sarcastically.

The girl continued to walk forward towards a group of pine trees, "Trust me. Its there."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I just barely made it to the first of the pine trees when I fell. I just felt so tired. The gray wolf had said that I had lost a lot of blood already. I just collapsed out of sheer exhaustion and blood loss. I couldn't go on any more. I sat there, panting, as the other wolves ran to help me.

"Geez! Are you alright!" someone said.

"We need to get her out of the snow."

One of the younger ones whispered, "It's a full moon tonight… right?"

Then, I was lifted up by someone and was carried to who-knows-where. All I knew was that I was going somewhere. Then, I blacked out.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Is she going to be okay, Kiba?"

Kiba didn't answer Hige's question. Then again, he couldn't. Kiba couldn't tell if the wound this girl had suffered was fatal; he was no doctor. He then watched Tsume lift the girl up and begin carrying her inside the concealed entrance to the cave. As he did this, Tsume said, "It's a full moon tonight. She just might live till then." Tsume then placed the girl down on the rocky floor of the cave, "Until the moon rises, we should try to stop the bleeding." Once he had relieved himself of the girl's weight, Tsume walked back over to the cave entrance and looked up at the sky. _'No moon yet…'_ he thought.

Blue knelt down beside the girl. Kiba helped to steady the girl's body while Blue torn off a substantial piece off the bottom of the black coat the girl wore. Blue then began wrapping the gunshot wound in the cloth. "This will have to do for now," she stated as she finished.

Tobeoe then asked, "Now what?"

"Now… we wait."

"Wait? For what?"

Hige rolled his eyes and said, "The full moon, stupid!" He gave Toboe a slight shove. Of course, this started a whole shoving war between the two, which escalated over the next few seconds.

Until Kiba said, "Cut it out, you guys." At the seriousness of Kiba's tone of voice, the two younger wolves quit fooling around. It remained silent in the cave for about an hour or so afterward.

In this time, Hige sat down, leaned back against the opposite wall and fell asleep. Toboe also sat down and got so bored he eventually fell asleep. Blue did her best to stay awake to keep an eye on their 'patient', but she found it too hard and gave in to sleep. The only one's who actually stayed awake for a substantial amount of time were Kiba and Tsume, who was still keeping an eye out for the moon from the cave entrance.

Kiba found himself staring at the back of Tsume's head. He wondered what the gray wolf was thinking, or possibly even feeling. He had noticed the way Tsume had acted since meeting this mysterious girl. The girl with intoxicating green eyes… This thought made Kiba consider what he, himself, felt about meeting this strange girl who had lived here for her whole life… A girl with no name… Kiba turned his head downward to look at the unconscious form of the girl on the cave floor. That's what was strange about her: she had no name. _'We should really think of something to call her.'_ he thought.

Just when Kiba was about to mention this thought to Tsume, the gray wolf called him over, "Kiba. Get over here. I want to show you something."

Kiba stood up and approached Tsume at the cave entrance, "What is it?"

Tsume gestured towards the sky, "Look up at the sky and tell me what you see."

"Why?"

"Just look."

Kiba looked up at the sky. He didn't know quite what Tsume wanted him to see, but after a few moments realization hit: "There's no moon…"

"Yeah. At least not that I can see from here, anyway."

"But if there's no visible full moon tonight then our new friend won't be able to heal quickly."

"Right."

Kiba glanced over his shoulder at the girl, "I wish… never mind…"

"What?"

"Never mind. It doesn't matter."

"What? What did you want to say? Spit it out."

"I just wish there was something we could do… for her… To keep her alive…"

"Oh. Is that it?" Tsume smiled slightly at this, which made Kiba wonder just how much Tsume really cared about the lives going on around him. Then Tsume said something Kiba would never expect him to say, "Or could it be that you feel something for this nameless girl?" Tsume turned to face the girl as well, but soon leaned in towards Kiba: a threatening motion.

Kiba's eyes narrowed in response. "Sometimes… the things you say, Tsume…" Kiba muttered under his breath as he walked away from Tsume outside of the cave to get a better view of the sky. While staring upwards, Kiba noticed the abundance of clouds.

"Hey, Tsume?" He called over his shoulder, "Has it been cloudy all day?"

"What a stupid question! Of course, it's been cloudy all day! Where do you think all the snow has come from?" Tsume responded from where he knelt by the form of the girl in the cave.

In response to this, Kiba spun around and re-entered the cave, "Then, maybe we really will see the moon soon. If the clouds clear…"

"If--- they do---


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain! I never have!

Part Five:

"If---they do—

"Tsume, what the hell are you doing?" Kiba demanded, when he noticed Tsume kneeling beside the girl. Tsume began trying to remove the bloody bandage. To Kiba it looked like he was going to try to change it.

"Just checking up on her! Damn it! You sure are protective!"

"I'm not being protective. I'm just curious as to how you feel---about her."

Tsume glared defensively up at Kiba, "What the hell are you talking about?" He just about had the bandage removed when he noticed, through all the dried blood on the girl's shoulder, a black bump jutting out of her skin. "What the hell---?"

"What is it?" Kiba asked, concerned. He knelt next to Tsume.

"Tsume indicated the black lump, "Is that---the bullet?"

Kiba's eyes widened. "I don't know. But whatever it is, it doesn't look good."

Tsume didn't respond to this statement. He hesitantly reached out toward the lump and his fingers grabbed it. The lump felt sort of sticky from all the dried blood, but it did feel sort of like metal…

"Tsume, I don't think that—

Tsume ignored Kiba and pulled lightly at the lump protruding from the girl's skin. It didn't appear to do anything. Tsume's eyes narrowed in slight frustration. He pulled a little harder. This time, the lump seemed to move some under the pressure. Since the third time was the charm, Tsume pulled again, a tiny bit harder, and the lump popped out of the girl's shoulder. Tsume took a closer look at what he thought was just a lump: it was actually a bullet. Exactly what he thought it was.

When the bullet was removed, the girl gasped and sat up, clutching her slightly bleeding shoulder. "What have you done to me!"

Tsume held the bloody bullet up for Kiba and the girl to see, " If we hadn't taken this out, your wound probably wouldn't have healed properly. It would have been healed into the wound under your skin."

"You mean that---that thing would have--?" Kiba asked.

"Yep. And she might have died, too."

"I told you before! I don't want any help!" the girl yelled.

"Well, if we hadn't, you could have died!" Tsume yelled back.

"So what? I would have preferred death to being stuck here with one such as you!"

Kiba couldn't take the arguing between these two any longer, "That's enough!" After a few seconds of silence, Kiba growled. "Tsume, leave her alone! I'm tired of this constant bickering between the two of you. From now on, I want you two to stay away from each other." Tsume growled in response and moved to sit down by the cave entrance. All the while, the girl glared after him, her eyes seeming to bore into the back of Tsume's head.

Kiba spoke softly, "He's right, you know."

When she heard Kiba say this, the girl turned her head to look at him, "What?"

"If the shot hadn't killed you right off, it probably would kill you later on as the bullet slowly penetrated your muscle with your every movement."

The girl stared in wonder at what Kiba had to say, "I—

She glanced over at Tsume, but he wasn't even looking back at her. He was gazing up at the sky, waiting for the moon to appear.

"You were---you _wanted_ to help me?" She said quietly.

Kiba nodded in answer. The girl stared at her injured left shoulder. Kiba then picked up the bloody bandage and said, "Here, I'll wrap it for you again." As he proceeded to do so, the girl did not protest this time, she just stared at the cave floor, deep in thought apparently. When he was finished, Kiba told her, "You should get some more rest. Your wound won't heal on it's own, you know."

The girl then turned her head to face Kiba and said, "Thank you…"

Kiba's eyes lit up with a slight smile, "Kiba. The name's Kiba."

"Thank you… Kiba…"

Tsume's voice interrupted, "Moon's out."

"Great."

"So?" The girl said.

"That means its power will be able to heal you. It won't take as long as letting it heal naturally." Kiba explained.

"I don't understand."

"Here, we'll show you." Kiba then offered his hand to the girl, who took it, hesitantly. She was then pulled to her feet to stand, shakily for a few moments. "You okay?" Kiba asked before leading her out of the cave and into the glowing winter night, She nodded. Kiba then supported her outside the cave and into the moonlight. "Stand here." He told her. Kiba then began to remove the bandage. "Let's take this off again." By the time the bandage was removed, the gunshot wound on the girl's shoulder was healed. Although her skin was still caked with dry blood, the hole in her skin seemed to be, to all appearances, healed. The girl raised her left hand to touch where the hole had been. A small look of surprise came on her face at the discovery of its disappearance.

"It—it's gone!" she whispered.

"Yeah, it'll do that."

"So-- I am fine now?"

"You should be. That is, until we wash the dry blood off."

"I did not know that the full moon held so much power."

"Well… you learn something new every day." Tsume approached from behind, surprising both Kiba and the girl. "Now, let's get some sleep."

All three, then re-entered the cave and prepared to go to sleep. Kiba sat down a short distance from the girl, "Get some rest. See you in the morning." The girl nodded in response. She then moved an even further distance away from the other five wolves and lay down to get some sleep.

Tsume was in his own little corner of the cave, apart from the other wolves. He lay down in a position the described sleep. Kiba and the girl just couldn't tell that he was awake.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain!**

**PART SIX:**

When Blue woke up the following morning, she opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing them slightly. She looked around, realized where exactly she was, and remembered how she had gotten there. _'The girl!'_ she thought and looked to where the girl had been laying last night with her injury…

Except, the girl was gone! Startled, and just a little bit worried, Blue looked around the cave some before concluding that the girl was nowhere to be found. She couldn't even find Toboe. _'Oh no! Not Toboe too!'_ she thought. Beginning to get even more worried, Blue approached the sleeping Kiba. She started shaking Kiba by the shoulder saying, "Kiba! Wake up! The girl! She's gone! And Toboe too!"

Kiba was awake instantly. "What?"

"It's the girl. She not here!"

"Blue, what are you—

Kiba looked over where he had seen the girl last night before falling asleep on the cold cave floor. She yellow-haired girl was not there, just as Blue had said. Kiba's eyes narrowed in concern.

Blue asked him, "What should we do? She could be dying and—

"She's not dead. She was alive last night. The full moon healed her shoulder."

"At least that's cleared up. But where is she now? And where's Toboe?"

"Good question. I'll go look for them."

"But Kiba, you don't know anything about this forest!"

"I'll be fine. I've been through worse."

Blue stared after Kiba, who left the cave and re-entered the early morning forest.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I thought that I had been quiet when I left the cave. I left my cave in search of some food, and maybe a new place to stay, where these other wolves wouldn't find me… They wouldn't miss one such as me anyway. I am nothing to them. The gray one showed me that…

**_'No wait! That's not true! They wanted to help you!'_** A little voice inside my head screamed at me, **_'the black one supported you when you were injured, and the one named Kiba showed you the power of the full moon.'_**

_'And what about the gray one, Kiba had called him Tsume? He was---_

**_'Rude? Mad? Crazy? Right... That's why he saved you.'_** The voice said sarcastically.

_'No! He hates me and I hate him! So why would he want to help me?'_

"Hey, you! Wait up!" A young voice brought me back to reality.

I turned to see the young rust-colored wolf jumping through the knee-deep snow to reach me. Perhaps I had not been as quiet as I thought…

"Wait!" he called again, "Where are you going?"

"Away."

The young wolf almost crashed into me, but he stopped and almost fell head first into the snow. He asked, "Why?"

"Because I am meant to be alone."

"No you're not! That's not true. Wolves are supposed to stay together."

"But not me."

Toboe didn't know what to say to express him-self right then, so he just remained silent staring at the red wolf in front of him. The red wolf, stared leisurely back at him for a few moments before turning away and saying, "Good-bye. Tell your friends---

"No! Wait! You can't go! I--- I mean, we—want you to stay with us!"

I stopped right in mid step. What the young wolf had said startled me.

_'Why would they want me to stay with them?'_

**_'Because they want you to join them on their quest.'_** The voice said.

_'Quest?'_

"But-- why?" I said aloud.

"Because you're one of us. You can come with us—to paradise…" The young one said softly.

"Paradise?" I asked, turning to face him, "What is paradise?"

The young wolf just stared at me in surprise and shock. "You've never heard of paradise? How could you not know about paradise?"

"I'm sorry, I--- forget I even asked." I replied. I turned and began to walk away again. This time, the rust-colored wolf didn't try to stop me. I don't know why… I… sort of felt I wanted to stay with them…

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Kiba continued to follow Toboe's scent, and paw-prints, through the forest. He was getting closer. He could feel it, and smell it too. Soon, in the distance, Kiba could a small stark change in the color of the snow. It was a brown dot. _'Toboe?'_ Kiba thought and raced toward the dot. As he came closer by the second, the dot evolved into the shape of a wolf, and it was rust-colored. _'That's Toboe all right.'_ Kiba thought again.

Pretty soon, Kiba was close enough to see that Toboe had sensed his arrival. Toboe's ears were perked up and he was staring at where Kiba was coming from as he ran ever closer. Kiba howled lightly in greeting to let Toboe know that it was only him, because it looked like Toboe was about ready to run away in fear. As Kiba got closer to Toboe, he stopped running and trotted up to the young wolf.

"Kiba! She's gone, and she went that way—Kiba? Kiba? We should have asked her to come with us to paradise---Kiba?"

"Yes. I know! But maybe she wouldn't want to."

"But she asked me what paradise was when I mentioned it to her! She was curious to know, Kiba."

Kiba's eyes narrowed in thought. _'Why would she not know what paradise is?'_ he thought as Toboe kept calling his name, seeing that Kiba was not all there at the moment. His mind was elsewhere.

"Kiba? Kiba, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Toboe. C'mon. Let's go back to the others at the cave. Maybe she'll come back to say good-bye."

"But she already said—

"She said what?"

"She already said good-bye…"

Kiba's face almost fell at that moment. _'Why would that girl just leave and say good-bye only to Toboe?'_

"Let's go." He said aloud, and they both turned back towards the direction of the cave.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"She what!" This was Hige's reaction to Toboe's account of the girl's departure.

"But where will she go? Isn't this her cave?" Blue asked.

"She said she was going away." Toboe replied sadly.

Hige wasn't satisfied with this answer, even if it was the only answer Toboe could give. "But why? Right after we helped her, she just decides to leave! Just like that!"

"Damn, stupid girl." Kiba heard Tsume mutter from his place by the cave entrance. Kiba then watched as Tsume rose up from where he was sitting and leave the cave.

"Where are you going, Tsume?" he called. The other three stopped talking and watched Tsume walk away as well.

"We've got to eat, don't we?" Tsume responded without looking back as he faded in between the surrounding trees. The fact was, what Tsume just told them was the partial truth. He was going to get some food. And if he could, he would find and talk to this stupid girl, whether she wanted to see him or not. She was just going to have to deal with that.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**Author's rantings: (cut from the last chapter by the author's own mistake) I hope you don't mind the length of these two chapters. They are just little ones meant for plot development. I hope you like them. Maybe you can see the changes in our mysterious red wolf that are beginning to take place. If not, let me know, and I'll work on that. Once again, I apologize for the length of this chapter! Please don't be mad!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain! Neither is the song titled "Less is More" sung by Relient K.**

**Note: To get over my writer's block on this story, I decided to actually watch the end of the series. Where I got a huge IDEA! But for now, I have to keep quiet about it until I actually write it. But anyways, I just wanted to let you all know that I shall be using the song titled "Less is More" sung by the band Relient K in this chapter and possibly another chapter to follow. So the lyrics and music for that song are not mine!**

**Red Snow**

**PART SEVEN**

**_…. DREAM…._**

The smell of flowers… A voice is calling…

"Akiko…"

I do not know who it is. It sounds distinctly female.

"Akiko… you must find me…"

"But where?"

"Paradise…"

As I get closer to the source, she is singing…

"Jesus, I pray/ Take all my mistakes/ Throw them away/ Destroy them for my sake…/

"Jesus, I call/ out cause I'm sorry/ because I fall/ so short of your glory/ To the best of my ability/ I'm practicing humility/ And I lay myself before/ cause less is more…/

"All that I have/ I lay before/ with my pride on the floor/ cause to you less is more/ All that I have/ I lay before/ with my pride on the floor/ Cause to you less is more…/"

But I cannot find her…

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tsume paused with his nose to the snow. He had been following the girl's scent for some time now. When all of a sudden:

"Tsumeeeee!" Toboe's voice rang clearly through the chill winter-y air, causing Tsume to pause and glance behind. He could see Toboe leaping over the mounds of snow in order to catch up to him. "Wait for me!"

When he finally caught up to Tsume, Toboe was slightly out of breath.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to help."

"I don't need help."

"But I would like to talk to her…"

Surprised, Tsume didn't know what to say. But after a second's thought, and a roll of the eyes, "Oh, alright."

At this, Toboe smiled, happy to be able to come along. "Alright then! Which way did she go?"

"I think she's just through there." Tsume indicated the area ahead where the trees began to thin out a few hundred feet in front of them. But before they could even start forward, they heard someone singing nearby.

"Where's that coming from?"

"It sounds like… well, it's not Kiba, Blue or Hige, that's for sure."

_'How can he tell?'_ Tsume thought.

"Wow… it's a really pretty tune…" then after a moment, "Who else could that be but her!" Toboe said, and he instantly took off toward the singing, followed closely by Tsume.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"That's a nice song. Where'd you learn it?" At the sound of this voice, I turned and jumped slightly at the sight of the young rust-colored wolf, from earlier.

"Don't worry. It's just me, Toboe."

"You brought someone else with you, too."

"Yeah. But it's just Tsume and me though."

"Why can't you and your friends just leave me alone? I thought you all would have left by now."

"Well, you see, we were worried---

Tsume rolled his eyes slightly at where this conversation was going.

"You were worried, eh? You shouldn't be, Toboe. You have no need to be. You don't even know me."

"Well, it's not just me who's worried. It's me, Blue, Kiba, Hige, and," Toboe turned to Tsume, "you were worried too, weren't you, Tsume? That's why you came, right?" From where he was leaning against a nearby tree, Tsume shrugged in response.

Toboe then approached where the girl sat in the snow, "Sometimes it's good to know other people care about you… Us? We're like a family…" When he continued to get no response from her, Toboe asked, "Can you teach me the words to that song you were singing?"

The girl stared at Toboe, apparently confused for a minute or two, then, "Well, it's not really a song I know… it's more of a song I heard someone else sing."

"But if you live here alone, where did you hear it before?"

"You'd laugh at me if I told you…"

"No, I won't."

"I heard it in a dream I had…"

Perplexed, Toboe didn't know what to say.

"Well, it wasn't really a dream… I'm not really sure what it was."

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Toboe decided to broach the subject he wanted to talk about, "You should come with us."

"To Paradise, right? That's where you're headed?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think I can come with you."

"Why not? Kiba and everyone else thinks' you should."

Tsume could keep quiet no longer, "Enough, Toboe. If she said 'she can't come along', then she can't come. Besides, she doesn't even know us, and we don't know her. So why would she even want to come?"

"We didn't know each other when we started this journey either." Toboe responded. He turned back to the girl, "Then, if you don't come with us, at least show us where the other end of the forest is, and say good-bye to the others."

When Toboe didn't get a response, Tsume said, "I'm gonna head back. Let's go." As Tsume turned back, Toboe followed him away from the girl. Just as they reached the tree line, they heard the girl say:

"I'll go too."

Toboe, hearing this, spun around to face her, "Really? To Paradise?"

"Possibly," came the response.

Toboe smiled.

"Whatever," Tsume said, "I don't care what you decide to do as long as you make a decision." Tsume then, with hands in his pockets, began once again to walk back in the direction of the cave. Toboe waited for the girl to catch up a little then turned to follow Tsume. After a few seconds, the girl was then walking through the snow next to him.

"Maybe sometime I will teach you the words to that song… Toboe."

Toboe looked at her, startled for the moment, then smiled and nodded, "I'd like that."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**Note: there! Finally, I have written chapter seven! I think its pretty cute chapter. Toboe is my favorite character anyway. Anyways… I hope I lived up to your expectations on what to expect from this chapter. But I promise I'll make my next chapters, up until the end, worthwhile. And now…**

**A WARNING: I may end up spoiling the end of the series for those of you who haven't finished Wolf's Rain. So if you'd rather not find out what happens to some of the characters at the end, you might want to take this chapter (Part Seven) as the end of this story. But those of you who have already seen the end of Wolf's Rain, you should continue reading! And I hope you do!**

**REVIEW PLEASE! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain! And I did not write (nor do I own) the song titled "Less is More" (by Relient K).**

**Red Snow**

Note: hello faithful readers! I just wanted to type a reminder… 

**1) those of you who have not yet seen the end of Wolf's Rain might want to watch it before reading the end of this story. The rest of this story contains IMMENSE (and I mean IMMENSE) SPOILERS! So this is a spoiler alert for those of the readers who haven't seen the end of this lovely series. **

**2) Those of you have seen the completed series of Wolf's Rain…. Congratulations! You get to read the rest of the story! **

**3) I shall still be using the song "Less is More" (eventually) which is not mine! Read the disclaimer (points upward) for details.**

**4) ENJOY!**

**PART EIGHT**

_**---The edge of the forest---**_

"So you're sure you don't want to come with us?"

The girl nodded in answer to Kiba's question.

""But why not?" Toboe asked. He was obviously disappointed that their new friend wasn't going to join them on their journey to Paradise.

The girl glanced at her feet before saying: "Toboe. It is not that I don't want to go..." She knelt down in the snow to say something more, "Even though I have only known you a short time, Toboe, you are the one who has taught me…" With this the girl stood up again and said to the whole group, "This is where I leave you. I believe the direction you are headed is due west." She pointed in the direction behind the five other wolves.

"Thank you." Was all that Kiba said before turning and running in the proffered direction, eager to be on the road once more; Tsume followed soon after, without a word in good-bye,

"It was nice to meet you." –Blue

"See ya…" –Hige

Toboe took one last sad look at the girl, then turned and ran to catch up with the others.

When they were some distance away from the forest, Toboe stopped and glanced behind him at the tree line, which was obscured by the wind and slight snow. The one thing he could see through the snow blowing in his eyes was the red fur of the nameless wolf at the edge of the forest. In further farewell to his new friend, Toboe gave throat to one long howl before Hige's voice called to him from where the others were ahead of him, "Hey, runt! C'mon! Let's go!"

And that was the last time they saw the nameless red wolf. That would be the one sight Toboe would always remember her by, the sight of her red fur through the blowing snow...

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I smiled when I heard Toboe's howl. And I stood there in the blowing snow and wind, until I completely lost sight of the odd colored group of five wolves. Even when I had lost sight of them, I stood, still staring at where I had last seen them, even if it was just a smudge of color. I felt oddly lonely now that they had gone… Why is that?

My ears picked up a strange sound. I spun around and stood alert, waiting. This sound… it seemed to be getting louder… What is that?

This sound quickly became intolerably high-pitched and whiny. I couldn't really tell which direction it was coming from, but it sounded like it came from above, or maybe everywhere at once. I covered my ears with my hands. And watched in horror as a large I-don't know-what landed in the snow some distance from me. It looked like a large metal bird, but I could be wrong.

The sound then became so unbearable that dropped to my knees, my hands still covering my ears more tightly. Then the side of the large metal thing opened and a figure stepped out. This figure was dressed in black. It was a man. I glared and began to growl in discomfort and anger as he approached me. But as he stared down at me, on my knees, I could vaguely make out a slight smirk on his cold face. That image stayed with me as I blacked out from the noise of the metal bird…

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Darcia watched the red wolf in front of him collapse into the white snow piling beneath it.

"Another one of these miserable creatures?" He said to himself, "Well, I think you may come in handy, my furry friend." He said as he knelt down next to the prone form of the wolf in front of him. Darcia then lifted up the apparently unconscious wolf and carried it into his plane. Once inside, the door closed out the wind and snow.

Darcia pulled out a muzzle, from who knows where, and proceeded to equip it over the red wolf's snout. Then he carefully tired a rope around its neck and then chained it to the wall of the plane. Then without another word, Darcia sat in the pilot chair and drove the plane into the air. He was headed west. The same direction that Kiba and the clan were headed: towards Jaguara's Keep.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**NOTE: How was that? Darcia is evil! I hope you all enjoyed it! Reviews would be most welcome! **

**--HOWLS-- riawolf**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I never have owned Wolf's Rain! **

**NOTE: Just so you all know… the following chapters are:**

**MAJOR SPOILERS!**

**Based mostly on the final episodes of the series, which is what makes the rest of this story a spoiler…**

**ENJOY!**

**CHAPTER 9**

--Somewhere near Jaguara's Keep—

"Wh—Where am I?" I open my eyes to a strange sight. I am in a room with purple walls and floor. Across the room, in front of me, I see two chairs. In one, sits the man from before. I growl at the sight of him, but softly so that he cannot hear me. I get up from lying on the floor and lunge forward towards him. Suddenly, I am choked from around my neck and I fall back to the floor with a whine and a thump. I also feel something around my snout.

At this sound, the man says, "So. You are awake."

"Who are you? Where have you brought me?" I growl as I get up once more. I notice for the first time that I am chained to the wall.

The man stands up from his chair and turns to face me. I lunge forward again, this time wary of the chain. The man, however, is just out of my range.

"Now, we can't have you acting this way when you meet Lady Jaguara," he says as he raises his right hand to the eye patch over his left eye.

"What are you going to do?"

"You are hardly in a position to defy me, okami."

"What did you say?"

"Why don't you rest for a little while longer, okami," he approaches into my range of attack. I lunge, but the thing around my snout prevents me from slashing his flesh, "We'll be there soon." He kneels in front of me. Holding my covered snout in his hand as he looks into my eyes, the man then removes the eye patch and---

--A Few Hours Later—

I wake once again to the sound of footsteps. My body is being carried somewhere within a city by the evil man. I growl lightly at the thought of him carrying me. But then a voice speaks, not to me, but to him:

"Darcia."

The man turns around to face a woman in a white coat and blonde hair. She gasps at the sight of me.

"Okami…"

"Yes."

"What are you going to do with it? Why did you come here?"

"Come with me and you will find out." The man, whom she called Darcia, then turned and continued toward the castle looming ahead. The men lining the entrance collapse as Darcia walks by.

Darcia approaches a huge door and it opens on its own. Beyond the doorway, I can see a dark hallway, decorated lavishly. Darcia proceeds down the hallway. As we enter, the door closes silently behind us. I hear the woman gasp; she had followed us in. Darcia then drops me to the floor and starts forward down the hall.

"Are you just going to leave me here? " I growl.

"You will wait here."

I lunge at Darcia from behind even though I still wear the thing over my snout. Darcia turns and hits me so hard that I hit the right side wall.

As I try to get up, I see that the woman looks at me in horror, and then after Darcia's retreating figure. Then she quickly follows the evil down the hall. I stagger to my feet and follow after, slowly, being careful not to be noticed by Darcia.

As my head clears from being slammed into the wall, the lights in the hall flare on. I see that a door is at the end of the hall. This one, which is slightly smaller than the first, also opens on its own. As I get closer, I can see a large room beyond the hall. There are many people in this room. At the sight of Darcia, they collapse, just like the soldiers outside. One figure is clothed in white and a mask, with long yellow hair, remains standing: lit up by a light from the windows.

From my position in the doorway, I see a huge bubble-like orb in the middle of the room. It glows with an eerie, yet calming, light. Inside the orb, is a girl with lavender hair…

_'I smell flowers from this orb…'_

The woman from before runs to the orb and the girl inside of it. Staying in the shadows, I feel drawn toward the girl in the orb. _'Flowers…'_ As I get closer, I watch the woman push buttons on the desk. I see that the girl in the orb is suspended in water. Suddenly, the orb shatters in a rain of broken glass and the water inside pours out onto the floor in a small waterfall. The girl falls, but the woman catches her before she hits the ground.

"Cheza!" I hear her say.

I approach the pair of women on the floor slowly, quietly, and cautiously. I am a few steps behind the woman in the white coat, when I hear the girl speak in a soft voice. "Akiko… You came to see this one?"

I stop in my tracks and crouch close to the ground when the woman glances behind her in the direction that Cheza is gazing. Her eyes widen when she spots me. My heart is beating wildly.

"It is alright." Cheza says to the woman and me, "This one will free you, Akiko."

I am startled to hear this word spoken. The only other place I have heard it spoken is in my dreams…

"Come closer, Akiko. Do not be afraid of this one."

Suddenly, all my fears are gone. I approach Cheza and the woman in front of me. Cheza reaches her hand to touch my forehead lightly with her small hand. And I am suddenly calm. I hardly notice the woman remove my muzzle. I hardly notice anything else that is happening in the room. I am so calm and… happy… happy to be near Cheza…


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain!**

**Author's Note: **

**Hey everyone! I'm back from school for the summer! And of course this is the best time for updates, especially from me! (stupid busy school year...) Before I start with chapter 10 of Red Snow, I just wanted to say how utterly surprised I was to find that the number of hits on this story just SKYROCKETED since I started it. Thank you for all your continuous love of Akiko! **

**Just so you all know, the rest of this story may not follow the plot line of the end of Wolf's Rain exactly because I might leave out some of the scenes with some of the characters. This is because of where Akiko is at the time and all the other characters get separated. **

**NOTE: The following chapters contain:**

**1) MAJOR SPOILERS!**

**2) Violence**

**3) And "Less is More" by Relient K**

**ENJOY!**

**PART TEN**

A loud slashing sound and a yelp broke me free of my ecstasy, I snapped back to attention in time to see the woman in the mask hurl a sword into Hige's back.

"Hige!" I shouted along with the voices that sounded similar to that of Tsume and Toboe.

I heard Cheza gasp in pain when this happened. I glanced in fear down at Cheza. I glimpsed a tear run down her face. At this, I growled, turned and ran at the woman with long hair. I lunged for her throat. She dodged and managed to slice my side. Although this wound hurt like hell, I skidded to a halt a few feet from the woman.

"You show bravery, okami." She said to me. "But you are becoming annoying."

"How dare you harm my friend!" I growled.

I was just about to prepare a second attack on her, when she turned to face the doorway. "What are you doing here?" she demanded of the silohette of Kiba. Kiba approached the woman and she raised her hand and a pattern of light appeared on the floor around him. Kiba's forward motion stopped. "I will take all your power." The woman said. But Kiba suddenly began to break free of the hold on his body and slowly continued his approach.

Then, suddenly, Hige leapt from his position on the floor (Tsume had pulled the sword loose) and again attacked the woman. This small distraction was all Kiba needed apparently because he then leapt for the woman's throat. A few seconds after his attack, blood spouted from the woman's neck. She staggered backwards in shock, bumping into Darcia.

She turned to face him, and he, in turn, stabbed her with his sword. The woman collapsed. She was most likely dead because Darcia's huge sword protruded oddly from her midsection.

While Kiba tensely conversed with Darcia, I ran over toward Hige's limp form on the floor, followed closely by Toboe and Tsume. By the time we reached him, Hige was struggling very hard to stand up.

Toboe was at his side first, "Hige! You shouldn't try to stand up!"

"I'm fine." Hige replied shakily.

"I'd hardly call being impaled with a flying sword 'fine.' " Tsume said as he and Toboe helped Hige to stand, using their shoulders as crutches. Both Toboe and Tsume were so concerned for Hige neither noticed me very much.

"By the way, you didn't need to help me." Hige said to me, "It was something I needed to do on my own."

When Hige said this, Toboe and Tsume seemed to notice me for the first time.

"You're welcome." I said in reply, "I guess it was wrong of me to defend a friend." I then turned away.

"Where will you go now?" I heard Toboe ask. I walked away without an answer. I did not know what kind of answer to give.

Before I left the room through the huge door I had entered through earlier, a soft voice called my name, "Akiko…" I stopped in surprise at the sound of Cheza's voice, "We must all go to Paradise together."

"I can't go with you… I'm sorry…" Then, I ran out of the castle, leaving them behind me.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I, own Wolf's Rain!**

**Author's Note:**

**Wow… It has seriously been a while since I updated… It took me a while to find my Wolf's Rain story notes. For all of you who have been anxiously awaiting this next chapter: "sorry about that…" (hangs head in shame) But enough of the constant apologies… Time for chapter 11! Yay.**

**CHAPTER 11**

Outside the castle is completely different from the cleanliness of before. It is utter chaos and destruction. The humans are running around screaming and looting and killing each other in this discord. When I entered the castle with Darcia, there were absolutely no scents in this city. Now, the lights are off and everywhere is darkness and chaos. The scents come rushing back to meet me in the streets.

To avoid being killed along with most of the humans, I jump between the rooftops of the identical buildings. Somewhere within this labyrinth of a city, a familiar scent catches my attention. I follow it to a large stretch of concrete where thousands of strange monsters are standing. All of these similar monsters remind me of the one that Darcia came out of when I first met him.

Still following the scent, and a trail of blood drops, I come upon that very same contraption. Its belly is open once again upon the silhouette of that evil man. Darcia… His back is to me, but I can still feel the evil look in his eye from the first time I saw him. I growl.

Darcia slowly turns around. I can once again feel the pain and numbness from back then. "You again," Darcia says as he approaches me. Then, after a moment's apparent thought, "That is right. You are still drawn to me, okami. It is because I need you to complete the transformation along with this." Darcia looks at something clutched in his right hand.

Through all of this, the numbness continues to consume every muscle in my body and slowly starts to affect my thoughts and brain. And as Darcia is talking, I find myself losing consciousness. I try to fight it. I force my weak muscles to move threateningly toward Darcia. My movements and constant growling do not affect him however.

"I'm afraid you are fighting a losing battle, my okami."

As the last words roll off his lips, I collapse into a heap at his feet. I remember no more after that.

_**LATER…**_

For a while, I am unable to move my body. I think I am once again inside Darcia's flying monster. I believe I am chained to the wall again. I can't feel the continuous thrumming of the monster through the floor this time though. But what I do hear is the wind outside the monster. Dust or sand blows in through the open belly of the beast and clouds my vision. I find myself having to blink rapidly to keep the dust from landing in my eyes. I can't smell Darcia on the wind from outside.

Still lying on the floor, I begin trying moving my legs. Over time, I am able to move all four of my legs. But my back muscles and such still do not feel like helping me to stand. I try to lift my head to look around and I am rewarded with a pinch-like feeling all along my back. Ignoring this feeling, I glance furtively around the inside of the monster I am in. I do not see the figure of Darcia in either of the chairs at the front. Nor do I see or hear the ruffle of that horrible long black cloak of his. I also notice that Darcia has neglected to chain me up this time.

Standing shakily on my paws, I decide to try walking towards the opening in the side of the beast. With the first step I take, my head reels and I feel slightly sick to my stomach. But the feeling passes when I stand still for a few moments. I begin walking again towards the opening. When I make it there, the sick feeling has left completely. I peek slowly around the side of the opening. Although I can hardly see a few feet from the opening because of the madly swirling dust, I detect no sign of Darcia. Not even a whiff of his disgusting scent.

After a few seconds hesitation, I exit the belly of the monster I have been captive of. But I don't make it very far.

"You won't escape, my okami." I know before I glance behind me that that was the voice of Darcia.

"Watch me." I say in return. I continue at a trot away from Darcia and his horrid purple monster of the sky. A minute or so afterwards, there is an explosion slightly behind me and to the right. It is distinctly red in color. I am flung forward and to the left a few hundred feet or so. I feel my side wound from the sword reopen as I roll on the ground. I think I yelped…

I immediately get up once I stop rolling. Even though my head is spinning and I feel blood flow down my side, I sprint forward and away.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Whew… that took a while for me to write… I hope you all enjoyed it! The next chapter will be coming soon when I get myself together after this long weekend of work. Anyways… I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed (and will continue to enjoy) Red Snow! There are just a few more chapters coming and then I can concentrate on another one of my stories. Until the next chapter… **

**HOWLS! --riawolf**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I will never own Wolf's Rain or any of its characters! (So sad…)**

**Author's Note: Since I didn't want to watch this particular episode (Episode 28: Gunshot of Remorse) again, I must say that the dialogue will most definitely not be exactly the same. I think that you readers will definitely enjoy this chapter whether I say that or not. Hee hee…**

**Second Author's Note: The place this chapter starts may seem a little odd, but I think it's okay considering the fact that I couldn't remember most of the dialogue without watching Episode 28 again. The reason I started it here is to limit the length of this chapter (and to keep from watching the whole sad episode again). Anyways… ENJOY!**

**CHAPTER 12**

Even though he may have missed a perfect chance at killing the red wolf, Darcia didn't seem to care about this. He knew that his wolf would return eventually. Besides, what he said to it earlier was true: that he needed the red wolf to complete his transformation into his own true form. He knew what this entailed… Getting the blood of that particular wolf…

Darcia smiled in the evil way only a true villain could. There was only one way that this goal could be accomplished. And once Darcia set his mind to something, nothing could stand in his way from getting it.

He exited his ship into the harsh wind of the sandstorm created from his firing of the laser so close to the ground. With the smile still plastered on his face, Darcia walked toward some unknown destiny. But he knew that this direction would take him to his little red wolf. It had to… It just had to…

Some time later, and still walking in the swirling wind, Darica could no longer see his ship behind him. Not that he ever looked behind him. After a few more steps he would be there. He counted: One…Two…Three…Four… Darcia stopped. He let the last few gusts of wind blow his hair and cloak violently. Through the dust and sand, Darcia could see two shadows in front of him if he squinted his eyes enough.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I don't recall how long I had been running through the sandstorm. But eventually I got tired and had to stop running. Because I was walking into the wind, I bowed my head forward and squeezed my eyes shut.

I lifted my head to check ahead of me. I could just barely see three forms ahead. One was tall, one was medium-sized and the third shorter than the other two.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The sandstorm's wind suddenly stopped and the swirling dust whipped from their vision to reveal the figure of Darcia a few yards in front of Toboe and Quent. Yaiden's eyes widened in anger and he hefted his rifle into firing position, aimed at Darcia. At the same time, Darcia drew a pistol from within his cloak and aimed it back at the human in front of him.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**!CRACK!**

The sound of the gun going off jarred me from my surprise at seeing Darcia, Toboe and another human in front of me when the sand cleared. It all happened so fast I hardly had time to react anyway. Toboe's body seemed to take forever to fall forward.

_'Toboe!'_

It was the second crack that brought me back to reality. I saw Darcia pointing his gun at the human. My eyes followed the length of his arm to his wrist where I saw Toboe, the rust-colored wolf, his teeth clamped onto Darcia's arm. If any words were exchanged, I didn't hear them. I continued to watch in shock as Darcia flung Toboe off of his arm, away behind him.

"Toboe!" I called as I ran forward toward him limp body on the ground, "Toboe!" I continued to call his name as I ran.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Toboe didn't distinctly remember being shot. He only remembered protecting Blue's human friend. He remembered that and hating Darcia for trying to kill the human. Toboe also remembered being tossed aside by Darcia after chomping down on his arm. Of course it did hurt.

He also heard a voice calling out to him by name: "Toboe!" It was kind of faint, but he could hear it. It was getting closer too. "Toboe!" Soon it was right next to him, "Toboe!" Toboe opened his eyes to a face he thought he would never see again. Her: the red wolf without a name.

"Hi…"

"Don't try to talk! You're hurt." She said in a frantic voice.

"Didn't think I'd see you again…"

"Shut up! That's not the kind of thing I'd like to hear you say right now."

"I'm okay… Really…" Toboe then tried to stand up. It was quite painful. A burning and shocking pain shot up his spine when he tried to stand.

"You shouldn't stand up!" The nameless girl whined.

Faint and far away her voice and a few gunshots sounded. _'That's weird…'_ Toboe thought, _'Should everything sound so far away?'_

He started to get up again, attempting to ignore the way the pain shot up and down his spine and through his shoulders.

"Please. Don't try to get up, Toboe… You're bleeding…" When she said this, she said it almost at a whisper. And when he heard her say it, Toboe began to notice the blood seeping out and down his back.

"I have to… protect… him… I promised… Blue…"

"Please, Toboe… Don't worry about that now! You need help! Please, listen to me! Please, Toboe!" she sounded heartbroken now.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Toboe was struggling to get up on his feet even though he was badly wounded. I tried to stop him. I really and truly tried. He wouldn't listen. He just kept repeating: "I have to protect him. I promised Blue." He said it over and over. He could hardly move his hind legs, so Toboe began crawling toward the human man on the ground some distance away.

"Please, Toboe… Don't worry about that now! You need help! Please, listen to me! Please, Toboe!" I shouted at him from where I was kneeling when I ran to his side.

I started to cry. I couldn't help it. I just started crying. I felt so helpless. I hadn't done or accomplished anything. All I had done was stand and watch while…

This thought brought me back to… one person… Darcia…

Darcia: that evil being who brought me here for some unknown yet completely selfish reason. Even thinking his name made me so angry. He made me so angry I just couldn't describe. I have never felt such hate before in my entire lifetime. This man, this Darcia, was the one who hurt my friend. _'Toboe…'_

This indescribable hatred could no longer be contained. It had to be fed. So I ran after the cause of my hatred… Darcia…

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Author's note: Augh! I can't stop myself! Writing this chapter made me cry! I hate to cry. It always makes me feel so… inadequate… The episode made me cry, too… This really sucks… Now I feel really bad…

**Anyways… that's the depressing Chapter 12. Next comes the final chapter, Chapter 13. I'm happy that I can finally knock down one more story off my to-do list. But I'm also quite sad that I'm finished with it because I was hoping it would end a lot happier than this. Most of my stories do tend to have happy endings. (sigh) This one is different, I suppose… But anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter even though it was quite depressing.**

**As always… Thanks for reading. Reviews and flames are welcome. **

**--Howls (a much more lonely and sad note than usual happy note)— a sad riawolf**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I will never own Wolf's Rain! Nor did I write the song titled "Less is More" (Relient K has the rights to it).**

**Author's note: Sorry for the endlessly long wait! I had started school before I could get a chance to finish this chapter. (boo-hoo!) This shall be the final chapter of Red Snow everyone… I am sad… I think that this has been one of my best works so far. I am happy with how it turned out (except for the fact that it is probably depressing my readers and myself) and I hope my readers are as well. Thanks for reading! It has been highly appreciated!**

**CHAPTER 13**

That man… that… Darcia… he had to be killed. I needed to kill him. I needed to kill that Darcia, On my own, with no one else's help. It was like I could hear Toboe's voice inside my head telling me to kill him. All I knew for sure was that that evil, hated presence call Darcia had to die. And, if necessary, I would sacrifice my life to accomplish this. I would not let myself die without knowing Darcia had died first. This could only be done my hands.

**_'There he is!'_** the voice inside my head screamed. It was so loud, it was almost like that voice actually had a body and it was running alongside me toward Darcia's approaching back.

I lunged for the throat. But Darcia managed to slip past my fangs and his wound was therefore not fatal. It was only a long gash along his shoulder. I growled.

"Ah… there you are, my okami." Darcia's voice drawled.

"I'm not yours, nor anyone else's! I belong to no-one but me!"

"I admire your spirit, my okami. That is why I must use you to complete the transformation."

I had no idea what he was talking about. A Transformation? And he says he needs me to do this? Whatever it means, I will not help him! Not after what he did to Toboe!

I growled even louder at this thought and lunged for Darcia's throat again. But this time, Darcia brought his fist up to meet the left side of my face. I think I yelped but then again, I am not sure. All I can recall clearly is rolling head over paws and finally skidding to a halt some short distance from Darcia. And pain. Pain like I've never felt before from the right side of my neck. Except maybe the time I was injured fighting those soldiers in my forest… I feel blood, flowing down my neck.

**_'Have you been hurt?'_** the voice in my head asks stupidly.

_'It's just a scratch,'_ I reply.

I look up to see Darcia standing over me with a strange-looking object pointed at me. It is the same thing that he used to kill Toboe.

"It is now time, my okami," he says, "to begin the transformation."

"Wha… What?"

"It is only a matter of minutes."

He then pulls a different object from inside his cloak. It is long and sharp. It glints in the faint light from the red moon.

I feel myself slipping away, almost gently. I hardly feel Darcia take the sharp object to the wound at my neck and cut a piece of my skin off. Then, with the red fur still on it, Darcia eats it. The fur and all…

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Kneeling beside the body of Toboe, Cheza cried. But softly, so no one would hear but herself. She gently stroked Toboe's head and cried. A few of her tears fell on the barren desert ground and a small tendril of a plant grew upwards to try to dry her cheek and failed.

After a few moments, Cheza could stand the pain no longer and stood up and walked a few steps away from the others around Toboe and Quent's bodies. Crying softly the whole time, Cheza gazed off into the hazy distance, tears slowly swimming down her cheeks, thinking. And soon, she began to sing…

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I hear someone singing. It is faint and soft and far away, but I hear them singing. It is the same voice I always heard in my dreams. After a minute, I realize it is the same song. I open my eyes slowly. Darcia is gone. I am lying in a small puddle of my own blood. It is a darker color than my fur… Looking at it made me feel slightly sick.

Not knowing where it came from, I raised my right hand to my neck. I feel the most blood here. I also feel the need to continually hold my hand over this spot. It is where the blood comes from.

I try to stand. I feel the ground beneath me wobble. Still, I struggle on. I have to find whoever is singing that song… I have to show Toboe… I have to meet her…

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tsume had just left Toboe's side, when he recognized scent wafting in the still air. And soon, Tsume was able to see a red form to his left. As the form approached, it became the nameless red wolf he had met up with in Jaguara's castle. And he could also see that she was staggering back and forth.

_'What's the matter with her?' he thought to himself._/p> 

A few seconds later, the red wolf seemed to spot him, "Can't talk right now…" her voice croaked slightly.

"What are you doing out here?" Tsume demanded, "You—

"I have to find him…"

"Find who?" It was then that Tsume noticed the wound on the red wolf's neck, "Whoa… what happened to you?"

"Got to… show him…"

"Wait! Hold on a sec! Find whom? Show them what?" Tsume watched as the red wolf staggered toward Toboe's body a few feet behind him, "You're in no shape to go wandering all over the desert right now."

"And what about you?" she asked him, "and what about the others? Where are they?"

"They left already… hey! Don't try to distract me!"

"Oh yeah… that's right… they went to find paradise…" she coughed and Tsume started forward slightly, "I'm fine…" she said through the coughing, even though she started to cough up some blood; Tsume's eyes widened slightly in shock. "You should go with them; to Paradise…"

Tsume opened his mouth to argue but the red wolf interrupted, "No. don't worry about me. I'm fine." Once more, Tsume tried to argue after a second's silence.

"Just go!" the girl gasped.

With this, Tsume reluctantly left her with Toboe's body and ran after the others toward the mountain in the distance.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Never thought Tsume would be worried… especially about me…" the red wolf said to Toboe. She continued her staggering approach and finally stopped a few feet from the rust-colored wolf in front of her. She swayed dangerously on her feet, but, by some miracle, continued to stand.

"I heard that song again, Toboe…" she said through the coughed up blood in her mouth, "I heard it… even though it was soft… I heard it…" The girl coughed again, sounding ever so slightly weaker, "Remember… back when we met… in the forest… you and Tsume…came after me…and asked me to go…with you to Paradise…?" she asked through the pain, "you asked me…the words…to that song… I finally heard them… all of the words… Before… I… couldn't tell you the words…because I… didn't know them all… I only knew pieces…but now… I… know them all…" she gasped.

"Are you listening…? … Toboe…? … 'Cuz I'm only going to sing them once…" And, even though it hurt like hell, the girl began to sing:

_"Jesus, I pray/ Take all my mistakes/ Throw them away/ Destroy them for my sake/ _

_"Jesus, I call out 'cause I'm sorry/ Because I fall so short of your glory/ To the best of my ability/ I'm practicing humility/ And I lay myself before/ 'Cause less is more/_

_"All that I have/ I lay before/ With my pride on the floor/ Cause to you less is more/ All that I have/ I lay before/ With my pride on the floor/ Cause to you less is more/ _

_"I pour out myself/ All that I am/ You love me so much/ That you fill me again/ And may these words on my heart, on my lips/ Somehow mean so much more than this/ Jesus, I pray/ Know what I'm trying to say/ _

_"All that I have/ I lay before/ With my pride on the floor/ 'Cause to you less is more/ All that I have/ I lay before/ With my pride on the floor/ 'Cause to you less is more/_

_"I pour out myself, before you were Lord/ I hold nothing back, 'cause to you less is more/ And may these words on my heart on my lips/ Somehow mean so much more than this/_

_"Jesus, I pray/ Just know what I'm tryin' to say/_

_"Jesus, I plead/ Please purify me/ Make my heart clean/ Drench me with your mercy/ Jesus, I pray/ I love you, I need you/ For the rest of my days/ I swear I will seek you/ To the best of my ability/ I'm practicing humility/ And I lay myself before/ 'Cause less is more."_

The last word was barely above a whisper, but to her it sounded normal. And as she sang the final phrase, her knees gave in and she fell to the ground, "Now... you know the words… Toboe…" Her right hand fell from her neck to reveal the gash there. At the same time, she collapsed to the desert ground, her face a few inches from where Toboe lay in Quent's arms.

And the red wolf died there…

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**Author's Note: (sigh) Now that I have completed one story off of my to-do list, it's time to pick up another one. I think shall be working on Kazel: The Dragon Demon next because it has been sitting in my to-do vault for who-knows how long! Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed reading Red Snow. Thanks for all your loyal support you readers in the fan-fiction world! Until next story…**

**--HOWLS!-- riawolf**


End file.
